Fort Lewis coach Bob Pietrack compared getting Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference road wins to getting a piece of gold.
Well, Pietrack and the Skyhawks squad found that gold Friday night in an 82-76 road win at South Dakota Mines behind a balanced effort.
Fort Lewis improved to 11-1 overall and 6-0 in the RMAC after shooting 53% from the field and 25% from beyond the arc.
“We were ready to play and these RMAC road games are very difficult,” Pietrack said. “We're going to get everybody's best shot so I thought our guys battled a lot of adversity, a lot of things didn't go our way. A lot of calls did not go our way and we completely fought through that. We made the winning plays down the stretch. Obi (Agbim) and Junior Garbrah, two champion players from last year, were tough down the stretch there and made the plays that we have to make to win.”
Agbim had 13 points to lead Fort Lewis on 4 of 9 shooting from the field and 5 of 6 shooting from the free-throw line.
Junior forward Brayden Carter had 12 points on 6 of 7 shooting off the bench. Redshirt sophomore Amondo Miller Jr. chipped in 10 points. Seven of the Skyhawks 10 players scored eight points or more.
South Dakota Mines fell to 5-8 overall and 3-4 in the RMAC after shooting 40% from the field and 33% from beyond the 3-point line.
Cameron Cohn had 29 points on 7 of 16 shooting from the field and 13 of 14 from the free-throw line. Alejandro Rama had 16 points on 6 of 10 shooting including 4 of 8 from 3-point range.
The Skyhawks started slow but went on run with the second unit after forcing turnovers. Fort Lewis went on a 9-0 run to go up 19-16 with 10:56 to go.
Despite good shooting from beyond the arc from the Hardrockers, 13 first-half turnovers led to transition play. Junior guard Tristan Hurdle thrived in four first-half minutes off the bench with eight points, as Fort Lewis took a 40-29 lead into halftime.
The second half was full of runs as the Skyhawks extended their lead to 10 or 12 points numerous times. However, Fort Lewis couldn’t put South Dakota Mines away as the Hardrockers made it a one- or two-possession game down the stretch.
“They made a lot of 3s, you’ve got to credit them they made a lot of tough shots and they’re a very hard team to guard,” Pietrack said.
This dance continued between the two teams, culminating in a 9-0 run by the Hardrockers to cut the Skyhawks’ lead to 76-73 with 1:56 left. A Cohn 3-pointer made the score 78-76 with 52 seconds left, but Garbrah was fouled and made two free throws to seal the game.
Fort Lewis plays Black Hills State on Saturday, starting at 6 p.m.
“They’ve got the conference’s leading scorer in Matthew Ragsdale so we’ve got our hands full with him,” Pietrack said. “They've been to two straight national final fours. This is a very proud program that is an extremely tough team, especially at home. So this is the biggest challenge we've had since the first game of the year when we played another ranked team.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
